


So In Love

by agentverbivore (verbivore8642)



Series: Ficlets [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 2x05 Spoilers, A snapshots fic, Angst, F/M, Fitz's POV, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 09:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2503610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verbivore8642/pseuds/agentverbivore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Leo Fitz thought Jemma Simmons was beautiful, whether he wanted to or not. </p><p>A short drabble inspired by Ed Sheeran's "Tenerife Sea."</p>
            </blockquote>





	So In Love

**Author's Note:**

> Requested on tumblr in response to this post: http://agentverbivore.tumblr.com/post/100796762173/ok-im-dying-to-write-something-for-fitzsimmons
> 
> Unedited.

It wasn’t his fault, Fitz told himself later. He didn’t  _mean_  to think those thoughts about his first ever real friend. Fitz blamed the sunset, and the wind for blowing water into Simmons’ face and making her giggle. She grabbed onto his arm, spluttering and complaining about the stupid decorative fountain, and he couldn’t quite stop the smile he gave her in return. Then he thought about how she looked quite pretty when she laughed, fuchsia clouds shining in her eyes. Immediately, Fitz shut down that train of thought, annoyed with himself for slipping. It didn’t matter that she was a girl, or that she was really abnormally pretty for someone who already had one PhD. Jemma Simmons was the smartest person he’d ever met, and that was worth so much more than her smile.

——

When she returned to the bus, wet hair plastered to the side of her face and a towel pulled tightly around her shoulders, Fitz couldn’t stop himself from thinking that, in that moment, Jemma was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She was shaking slightly from the cold as she followed the others up the winding metal staircase, and he panicked, only slightly, because he was so relieved she was here, that she’d come back to him, that he wanted to hug her, but they never really did that sort of thing unless it was really important. And, yes, her almost dying was important, but maybe she wouldn’t think it was appropriate because she was still soaked and cold from being fished out of the ocean, and, after all, if she was that close to him right now it’d be much harder to hide that he’d been crying. But she solved that for him, as she did so often. The fluorescent lights of the loading bay shone on her hair as she stepped up to him and reached a hand out to clasp one of his. A shower and new clothes, and she promised she’d come find him right after. He nodded and squeezed her hand back, forcing himself to forget that the first thing he’d thought about Jemma after she'd almost died was her beauty. Appearances were fleeting, after all. 

——

Everything had fallen down around them and all the words Fitz knew he needed to say to Jemma were lodged in his throat, wet leaves in an autumn storm drain or breath in his chest. The ripples on the pool's surface filtered over her skin and he leaned back to look at her, study her face, wonder what she was thinking while he tried not to notice the way the moon cast a glow over her softest features. A question made its way out and his promise to himself that he would never act on his feelings almost broke when she looked at him and put her hand on his knee. Sometimes being with her made his chest ache, and he wondered if she seemed so much more lovely to him than anyone else because he knew what thoughts lurked behind her beauty, knew the truth of her brilliance and the fact that she didn’t need the moon to light up any space.

——

Water was all around them now, and Fitz had never been so terrified of its power. The way the wavy light shone through the window on Jemma’s sleeping face confused him - where was it coming from? But he tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter right now, unless he could use it to get them out of here. He had to get Jemma out of here. In a moment of weakness, he let himself brush a strand of hair out of her face, her head leaning gently against his side for lack of a better pillow, and watched her abdomen rise and fall with slow, deep breaths. They didn’t have many of those left, now, but he couldn’t bear to wake her up and tell her so. The light cast soft shadows across her face, making her skin seem unearthly, even godlike, and although Fitz knew that beauty was ephemeral he was glad that hers would be the last thing he’d see. If he didn’t find a way to save her, that is. He had to save her. 

——

The bubbles from the water fountain in the Playground’s lab made the most distracting noises, Fitz thought, glancing up from where he’d been working to glare at whoever was making him break focus. But then he saw people gathered in the hallway, signaling the return of agents from the mission to which they’d all disappeared, leaving him behind again, alone with his gadgets and the people who were afraid to talk to him. He told himself it wasn’t real, that his mind was playing tricks on him again, but they were speaking to her this time and that hadn’t happened before. If they could see her, maybe she was real this time, and he shuffled out from around his workspace, twisting his hands nervously as he’d learned to do to hide the intermittent tremors. Then she was walking into the new lab, no longer in that now overly-familiar blue sweater with the white collar, and Fitz couldn’t stop himself from staring at the way the shadows of the room gathered within her shorter, lighter hair. If this was his imagination, something had gone horribly wrong, because she was both more beautiful and farther away than he’d ever remembered her being, even though now she was standing only a few feet from him. She spoke to him and her laugh was still one of his favorite sounds, and he crossed his arms to keep himself from reaching for her - and to hide the fact that he didn't move in quite the same way as he did before. Fitz saw Jemma again for the first time, and all he wanted was for her to step into the light so he could see the way it caught in her hair. So he could remember what it used to feel like to see her smile at him. 


End file.
